New Endeavors

Springtime is the season for all things new, and with the lengthening daylight and the warming temperatures, we all know that springtime is coming. Folks are out tapping the maple trees, the animals are itching to get outside, and the sights and sounds and smells about the farm are changing. There are new birds in the trees, newly exposed patches of the gravel drive beneath the melting snow, and new projects to start.

The first steps of peeling the onion of winter doldrums is shaking out the collected dust and cobwebs. This month, we’ve been attacking the years of accumulations in closets, basements, and corners. It’s kind of like how moving always gave us a chance to clear out the rubble and keep the useful and heirlooms, only this time we’re not going anywhere. The dumpster we added late last fall sure has been getting a workout, along with trips to recycling centers and thrift stores.

Now, closets that were dangerous to open because the piles of contents threatened to fall over on you are now orderly and useful. The shop in the garage is getting a makeover so that tools are actually where you can find them, and the farmhouse basement is being cleared for a major cleaning it hasn’t seen in who knows how long. Look out dust bunnies! It won’t be a happy Easter for you!

There’s something about cleaning up a place and shedding the old that just plain feels good. Along the way, you find things you didn’t even know you had! This is especially true of the farmhouse, which has a mix of a few things left by the Fullingtons plus items brought in by our grandparents since 1968 plus our own stuff. A wringer-washer from Wilma Fullington, a mount-in-the-fireplace cooking grill, and a mountain of canning jars have all been part of the excavation findings.

But the house hasn’t been the only thing on the farm needing a good cleaning. Yesterday, we tackled the chicken and turkey coops—hauling away load upon load of fragrant bedding as the thaw awakens the microbes. The chickens paced outside, locked in their snowy pen while we worked.

“Helloooooo in there! Can we come in now?” a hen tried to squeeze her head into a crack of the door while another flew at the window. Egg-layers can be very impatient.

“Not yet ladies,” I warned. “But you’ll like it when you do.”

It was an all-day endeavor, but both we and the poultry are much happier with fresh bedding, fewer dusty cobwebs, and clean nesting boxes. Already the chickens have improved their attitudes, and the huge pile behind the woodshed awaits spreading on gardens soon to emerge from beneath the blanket of receding snow.

At Farmstead Creamery, the last of the winter projects are winding up with thoughts towards spring as well. This Tuesday, we’ll be hosting our St. Patrick’s Day Harvest Dinner and Concert, featuring stories and song from Ireland along with delicious Irish pub salad, soda bread, colcannon, lamb stew, and Baileys Irish Cream cheesecake! The event starts at 6:00, and there’s still time to get a ticket if you’d like to join us.

In preparation for the event, I added a new instrument to my wood-and-strings music family—a Russell Cook edition hammered dulcimer! A trapezoidal box-like instrument with metal strings running across the face, it is played by little hammers bounced off the strings. Known for its long sustain and haunting sound, the hammered dulcimer pairs well with harp and other traditional instruments of the Celtic and Appalachian family.

Packed in its case in a padded cardboard box, the dulcimer arrived via UPS a week ago, when we still had pretty cold temperatures. The unpacking process took nearly 24 hours because fast changes in temperature or humidity can cause soundboards on instruments to crack. First it sat in the house a long while in the box, then the box came off and it stayed in the case. Then we cracked the case and finally took the instrument out.

What a treat to see and hear the dulcimer, crafted with mahogany and rosewood. And the sound! It’s been fun learning my way around on the strings and sharing a few tunes with friends coming into Farmstead Creamery. The hammered dulcimer will certainly be a feature in the upcoming dinner concert, so it looks like it’s time for some serious practicing! While we dust the cobwebs from the house, I’ll also be dusting off some of my favorite tunes from the land of Erin. Want to join us?

St. Patrick’s Day is the last in our six-part Harvest Dinner and Concert series, after which we take a break from special events until Memorial weekend to accommodate the rigors of lambing. Next up is cleaning the barn—oui! But that’s for another story.

There’s lots of new things to celebrate on the farm this spring as we continue to celebrate 100 years of homesteading on this precious piece of earth. Hope you have fun and new things to look forward to this spring as well. See you down on the farm sometime.